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straight from Dave’s Coffee Farm…

Dave’s Story:

Found around the 2,000 foot elevation on the northern slope of Mauna Kea on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, Javaloha coffee is grown in deep, rich volcanic soil nestled in the elbow of Hawaiian rain forest. The only thing that loves the land more than the coffee trees is their caretaker.

When we first set eyes on the property, we were trespassing. Lost, and more than a quarter mile from the parcel of farm land we thought we were viewing, we hopped a couple of fences and walked up a dirt lane to enter a Hawaiian wonderland. Hundreds of native ohi’a and koa trees, some too big around to even hug, bamboo so tall it looked like a cathedral, dozens of avocado, loquat, guava, citrus, waia’wi – strawberry guava and kukui nut, hapu’u tree ferns, ground ferns, bromeliads and wild orchids everywhere. And huge, old, very old, coffee trees. Birds of all colors, large and small, flitted and soared above and around us. The sun and wind were gentle and kind. It did not seem possible. We rushed back to the realtor’s office and blathered on about the property. “Whoa! Whoa! Slow down”, Bailey laughed, then the heart-stopper, “THAT wasn’t the parcel I told you about.” Balloon, and dreams deflating. “But!” he continued with a gleam in his eyes and voice, “the owners of where you WERE recently asked me to list their parcel…” In hindsight, it was divine provenance.
Starting a coffee orchard from scratch is hard, but glorious work. Doing it “off the grid” – with no county-supplied power or water – takes the process to an almost spiritual pilgrimage level. Nothing is easy and yet must be done the right way, the sustainable way, the Hawaiian pono way. No trees were cut down. Rather, holes were dug in rows around the existing trees, giving the farm a peaceful, park-like feel and maintaining valuable shade for the new coffee trees.
Nurtured by hand, bathed in gentle Hawaiian sun and the purest rain on the planet, our trees fruit beans that we harvest, pulp and dry by hand. We only roast our beans in small batches, as the orders arrive, to produce the very freshest coffee for our customers, family and friends. After all the rest that has gone into each bean, that’s the least we can do!
Javaloha has been described as the smoothest, sweetest, most caramely, chocolatey coffee drinkers have ever tasted. It has regular customers throughout the US mainland, here in Hawaii and as far away as New Zealand, Japan and South Africa. We will never be the biggest coffee farm in the land – but that’s not the goal. Our goal is simply to try our very best to produce a delicious coffee that can be enjoyed anywhere – hopefully with a hint of all the wonder and beauty that surrounds this farm. We are honored that you visited our website and hope that you will give our coffee a try. We think you will truly enjoy it!